Marriage Without Love & More Than a Convenient Marriage?

‘I think you’ve had a little too much to drink, old man,’ Kieron interrupted calmly, his hand going out to restrain him. Matt shook him off, and for a moment Briony felt fear crawling along her spine as she saw the look in Kieron’s eyes. It vanished almost instantly, to be replaced with one of cool contempt.

‘Got to take Briony home,’ Matt muttered, subsiding a little as though even his muddled brain had perceived the danger.

‘I’ll take her home. You’re in no fit state to drive,’ Kieron told him in clipped accents. ‘In fact I think we’d better have your car keys, unless of course you were planning on staying with Briony overnight.’

There was an electric silence when Briony directed a freezing glare at Kieron and the others shuffled uncomfortably, avoiding her eyes.

‘No?’ Kieron drawled. ‘Hardly surprising. Give me your keys and Gail here will make sure you get home safely—won’t you, Gail?’

The blonde looked surprised and slightly chagrined, and Briony wondered how Kieron knew that Gail and Matt lived quite close to one another. Unless perhaps Gail had told him? It was plain from the other girl’s expression that she had expected to be the one going home with Kieron, and the look she directed at Briony was openly hostile.

‘I don’t need anyone to take me home,’ Briony announced firmly. ‘I’m perfectly capable of taking myself. In fact I must leave now or I’ll miss my bus.’

‘You’re not walking through the streets alone at this time of night,’ Kieron told her in clipped accents, his fingers closing about her arm and forestalling her flight. It was hot in the pub and he had discarded his jacket, his tie pulled loosely away from his shirt collar, which was unbuttoned to reveal the tanned skin of his throat.

‘This isn’t New York,’ Briony countered, but Doug was frowning slightly.

‘He’s right, you know, Briony,’ he told her. ‘It isn’t wise to walk alone in London at night.’

It seemed as though they had all entered into a conspiracy against her, one of the younger reporters recounting with obvious relish stor

ies of muggings—and worse. Even allowing for certain embellishments they did not make pleasant hearing, and Briony felt the gooseflesh prickle along her arms as she contemplated the long walk to her bus stop. Urban violence was a fact of life and it would be foolish to ignore it. Even Matt seemed to accept that Kieron was going to take her home, and sulkily handed his keys over to Gail.

Kieron did not release his grip of her arm, and as they made their final goodbyes she hissed at him, ‘There’s really no need. You don’t even know where I live. I could be taking you miles out of your way.’

‘I know all right,’ he told her grimly. ‘I’ve been through all the staff files—and now unless you really want to see me lose my temper, just shut up, will you?’

His car wasn’t parked very far away, but Kieron retained his hold of her arm, forcing her to try to match her small paces to his longer ones as they walked along the pavement. Briony glimpsed their reflection in a store window. To an onlooker their pose represented that of close friends—or lovers. She pulled away, shivering suddenly, although the evening was quite mild. How often in the past had they walked together like this? But then she had had no thought in her head but the sheer thrilling pleasure of Kieron’s proximity.

She was so deep in thought that she didn’t realise at first that Kieron had stopped next to a long, sleek, pale grey car, which looked both fast and dangerous.

‘Get in,’ he instructed her, unlocking the passenger door and standing over her while she did to.

She sank into the luxurious hide upholstery, unwillingly impressed by the opulence of the vehicle. When Kieron got in beside her and slammed his door she moved instinctively farther towards hers, oppressed by the unwanted intimacy the narrow confines of the car forced upon her.

When Kieron turned towards her, she flinched, her eyes wide and dark, colour running up angrily under her skin as he reached casually for the seat belt and held it up mockingly in front of her.

‘What did you think I was going to do? Give way to the violent passion of my feelings and make love to you?’

‘Don’t be so ridiculous!’ She was thankful that long habit gave her the ability to inject ice into her voice, her eyes staring rigidly ahead of her as Kieron snapped the seat belt into its holder. He hadn’t touched her, and yet for a moment she had been intensely aware of him in a way that brought unwanted memories crowding back. Inside she was trembling with reaction and fear, but she willed herself not to betray it, saying nothing as Kieron started the car. It moved off with a powerful, throaty roar, Briony sitting silent at his side.

He glanced at her once or twice, but when she refused to look back he switched on the cassette player, inserting a tape.

The voice of Rita Coolidge filled the car. She was singing something haunting and sad about parting lovers, and Briony felt the skin of her scalp prickle warningly.

‘Still sulking because I broke up your “romance"? Kieron drawled. ‘There’s no need for me to ask if you know that he’s married already, of course. Do you love him?’

The question caught her off guard, her eyes green and angry as she glared at him.

‘That’s no business of yours!’

‘Sure it is. You’re both on my staff. Love affairs in the office play havoc with performance.’

‘And you’re concerned that my “affair” with Matt might affect my work?’ she said sweetly. ‘Don’t worry—it won’t.’

‘I’ll bet,’ Kieron drawled succinctly. ‘He doesn’t look as though he’s got what it takes to keep one woman satisfied, never mind two.’

His sheer audacity all but took her breath away, and she turned on him angrily, her determination not to speak to him forgotten.